Unfortunately for Flushing, they were pretty good in the present Friday night.

Morse scored a career-high 20 points and Watts added 12, including four in the final 82 seconds that proved to be the difference in visiting Carman-Ainsworth's 50-47 victory before a boisterous crowd of about 1,000 in the Big Nine Conference opener for both teams.

“They were very good,” coach Bob Root said of his talented underclassmen “Definitely, they're the future.”

Until running into Flushing, Morse had only reached double figures once in his brief career, scoring 11 Dec. 17 in a 61-34 rout at Bloomfield Hills Lahser.

While Root wasn't expecting the kind of numbers Morse put up against Flushing, he did see some promising things Tuesday, when Morse scored six points in a 67-38 rout over previously unbeaten Bridgeport.

“He's just starting to get some (playing) time,” Root said. “He played well up at Bridgeport and he's starting to get a little confidence. He can shoot the ball. When we were behind, we had to put him in and we rode him pretty good. If he doesn't step up and hit shots, we don't win the game.

“I wish he wouldn't have shot the ball at the end when we were trying to pull it out. But he's not afraid to shoot the ball and he's got a nice shot. Now if he can learn to take it to the basket. He's going to get more aggressive, more used to playing varsity basketball.

“That's a big plus for us.”

Morse did most of his damage in the middle periods to help Carman-Ainsworth rebound from an awful first quarter, which saw them shoot 3-for-14 from the field and fall behind 14-6.

He scored nine points in the second quarter on 4-for-5 shooting as the Cavs cut the deficit to 27-23 at halftime and then added seven more points on 3-for-4 shooting in the third, when Carman-Ainsworth built a 39-37 lead heading to the final stanza.

“Tonight I had it going,” said the 6-foot Morse. “I was on a roll. They depended on me to hit shots and I had to make them. That feels really good.”

Carman-Ainsworth never trailed in the fourth quarter but couldn't put the pesky Raiders away until Watts scored four straight points to turn a one-point lead into a 49-44 advantage with less than a minute to play.

He sank two free throws with 1:22 left and then made a driving layup with 56.2 seconds showing.

“I liked the way we hung in there and battled back,” said Root, whose team improved to 7-2 entering next week's showdown with Powers Catholic. “At the end, it was pretty scary but I'm proud of the way they played. We're not the most talented team in the world.

“Up front we don't have the biggest guys or low-post guys. We gave up a little strength to those guys around the basket. But we did a pretty good job around the basket.”

Flushing senior Brent Myers led all scorers with 24 points on 9-for-20 shooting from the field and 5-for-6 from the foul lines. Myers, who had 15 points at halftime, also had a game-high nine rebounds.